Party Game Review: ‘Pop Trivia’ from Games Adults Play

Quiz Master: Pop Trivia from Games Adults Play is the perfect knowledge-testing game for partiers who fancy themselves experts in pop culture. Other trivia games are infamous for having an enormous range of material, such that players will never know the full scope of what could be asked, from science to language to history. By contrast, Pop Trivia specifically covers pop culture from the 1950s to the 2000s. With the field known to all, players of Pop Trivia will vie to determine who has the poppiest smarts.

The questions in Pop Trivia are broken into six categories and six decades, giving a good deal of choice to players as they prepare for questioning. Play begins with the players divvying up into groups or playing individually, rolling to see who goes first. Players name which decade they would like to try: the nifty 1950s, swinging 1960s, disco’s own 1970s, “greed is good” 1980s, revolutionary 1990s, or the New Millennium. They then roll a die to see what category their question will come from, meaning that players cannot automatically direct their attention to their strong suits.

Pop Trivia features six categories: Fads & Fashion, TV, Film, Music, Sport, and Name the Year. Fads & Fashion serves almost as a potpourri, ranging from dances (“Which singer popularized The Twist dance style?” in the 1960s) to toys (“What was the name of the spinning top with interchangeable parts?” in the 2000s). The TV and Film categories are self-explanatory (“Who is best known for his role as Superman in the 1950s television series?”), as are Music (“Which Australian band is best known for the 1981 hit ‘Down Under’”) and Sport (“Evonne Goolagong is famous in which sport?” in the 1970s). Perhaps the most fun category is Name the Year, as hints come from all angles, giving players a chance to align their knowledge to come up with the answer (“Dolly the sheep born, Bob Dole nominated for president, film Jerry Maguire is released”).

If a player misses a question, the card goes back in the box and play continues with the next player or team. When players get a question correct, they collect the card and work toward getting a set with one from each decade. The first player to have six cards, one from each decade, wins. This will take a wide range of pop culture knowledge covering all the potential categories and sixty years of historical happenings.

Quiz Master: Pop Trivia is a trivia game for two or more players aged 14 and up. The pace moves quickly as players or teams take turns asking the questions and rolling the die to determine the question to be asked. Since the length of the game depends on the number of players and their trivia savvy, a game could last only a few minutes for two players going head-to-head or an hour or more for a good-sized group. Replayability is high, with a wide range of pop culture categories across so many decades. And, with 900 questions in the box, it will be a long time before players come across the same one again.